Comparing text in columns

[Lear]

Hi,

I tried to follow other postings but I cant seem to be bright enough, please
help

I currently have 2 columns (please keep in mind I will have more then 2)
with titles of articles. I already downloaded all the text from column A and
I want to see which other articles I need to download from column B.

However some titles are in essence the same but titles are slightly off (see
below)
or some have the same title but have a , or / or – or an and

For example column A – column B
“yin-yang†– “yin and yangâ€
“how to overcome fear†– “overcoming fearâ€
“the essence of marriage†– “essence of marriageâ€

is this possible to do or do they have to be identical?

How do I adjust the formula since I will have more then 2 columns, lets say
4 or 5 in total

if you have comments or suggestion as to alternatives i would appreciate them.

Thank you so much,

Lear

 

[dfeld71]

Try using a VLOOKUP, but use "true" at the end instead of "false". True
will tell it to find the closest match, false means find an exact
match.

=vlookup(a1,b1:b65536,1,true)

B1:B65536 tells it to look in column B, rows 1-65536 (adjust as
necessary).

If you need to search multiple columns, change the range (for
example..you want to search in columns B-D..change to B165536)

HTH

-Deb